John Frederick Peto. John Frederick Peto was an American trompe-l'oeil painter who was long forgotten until his paintings were rediscovered along with those of fellow trompe-l'oeil artist William Harnett.
Although Peto and the slightly older Harnett knew each other and painted similar subjects, their careers followed different paths. Peto was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the same time as Harnett.
Until he was in his mid-thirties, he submitted paintings regularly to the annual exhibitions at the Philadelphia Academy. In 1889, he moved to the resort town of Island Heights, New Jersey, where he worked in obscurity for the rest of his life.
He and his wife took in seasonal boarders, he found work playing cornet at the town's camp revival meetings, and he supplemented his income by selling his paintings to tourists. He never had a gallery exhibition in his lifetime.
Harnett, on the other hand, achieved success and had considerable influence on other artists painting in the trompe-l'oeil genre, but even his paintings were given the snub by critics as mere novelty and trickery. Both artists were masters of trompe-l'oeil, a genre of still life that aims to deceive the viewer into mistaking painted objects for reality. When the catalogs of the two artists were posthumously analyzed, it was determined that many of canvases received forged sig
Although Peto and the slightly older Harnett knew each other and painted similar subjects, their careers followed different paths. Peto was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the same time as Harnett.
Until he was in his mid-thirties, he submitted paintings regularly to the annual exhibitions at the Philadelphia Academy. In 1889, he moved to the resort town of Island Heights, New Jersey, where he worked in obscurity for the rest of his life.
He and his wife took in seasonal boarders, he found work playing cornet at the town's camp revival meetings, and he supplemented his income by selling his paintings to tourists. He never had a gallery exhibition in his lifetime.
Harnett, on the other hand, achieved success and had considerable influence on other artists painting in the trompe-l'oeil genre, but even his paintings were given the snub by critics as mere novelty and trickery. Both artists were masters of trompe-l'oeil, a genre of still life that aims to deceive the viewer into mistaking painted objects for reality. When the catalogs of the two artists were posthumously analyzed, it was determined that many of canvases received forged sig
Wikipedia ...